Bobcats finish fifth as Bates Winter Carnival concludes

Jan 13, 2008

Dan Loman '08

Emily Sampson '09

Leo Menard '08

Liz Thompson '09

BETHEL, Maine -- The Bates College alpine skiing team finished up the season-opening Bates Winter Carnival with fifth-place showings in the giant slalom, helping the overall Bates ski team to finish fifth out of 12 teams on Sunday at Sunday River.

Defending NCAA champion Dartmouth College opened the 2008 Eastern Intercollegiate Skiing Association (EISA) winter carnival season with a first-place team finish. Middlebury College finished second with 640.0 points to Dartmouth's 666.0. The University of Vermont placed third out of the 12 competing teams with 578.0 points, and the University of New Hampshire (502.0) and host Bates (485.0) rounded out the top five.

The Bates women's Alpine team finished third in the slalom on Saturday, placing four skiers among the top 19. Junior Emily Sampson (Plymouth, N.H.) headed the Bobcats with a two-run combined time of 1:40.20. Junior Liz Thompson (Rangeley, Maine) was 13th out of the 58-skier field in 1:41.56, with senior Whitney Fahy (Carrabassett Valley, Maine) right behind in 14th at 1:41.59. Junior Megan Papineau (Keene, N.Y.) finished 19th in 1:44.06 and first-year Micaela Holland (Belmont, Mass.) debuted nicely with a 21st-place combined time of 1:44.99.

Thompson and Sampson reversed order in Sunday's giant slalom, with Thompson leading the Bobcat women to fifth place in the event by finishing 15th out of 58 with a two-run combined time of 2:08.84. Sampson was right behind in 16th, followed by Holland in 25th and first-year Lauren McAllister (Bethel, Maine) in 35th.

The Bates men's Alpine team had an equally impressive season opener, tying Williams for third place on saturday in the slalom and placing fifth on Sunday in the GS.

Senior Dan Loman (Killington, Vt.) led the way both days for Bates, placing seventh out of 59 men in the slalom with a combined time of 1:32.78 and eighth out of 58 in the giant slalom in 2:01.99. His senior co-captain Leo Menard (Portland, Maine) also had an excellent weekend, placing 14th in both the slalom (1:33.38) and giant slalom (2:02.62).

First-year Ben Manter (Vassalboro, Maine) notched an excellent debut on the circuit as Bates' third skier in both events. He was 15th in the slalom at 1:33.51 and 20th in the GS in 2:03.84. Two more Bates rookies excelled as well, with Ross Brockman (Sudbury, Mass.) placing 22nd in the slalom (1:36.25) and first-year August Felix (Cambridge, Mass.) placing 26th Sunday in the GS (2:06.60).

The EISA circuit resumes this weekend at the St. Lawrence University Winter Carnival.